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FSEC approves grading policies
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday approved a new policy on satisfactory and unsatisfactory grades, along with amendments to course repetition and non-matriculated student policies.
The FSEC’s decision to adopt the recommendations of the senate’s Grading Committee came in lieu of a decision by the full Faculty Senate, which failed to convene enough members to vote on the proposed policy changes on March 2. Twenty-seven of the senate’s 90 members attended a meeting that day, 19 shy of a quorum.
The new and amended policies will be forwarded to UB President John B. Simpson for approval.
The proposed Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory Grades Policy, which applies to undergraduates, includes the following provisions:
• When a student requests that a course be graded with an “S” or a “U” for “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory,” letter grades of a C or better translate to an “S,” while letter grades of a C- or below translate to a “U.”
• No more than 25 percent of a student’s UB courses can be graded with an “S” or a “U.”
• Courses fulfilling general education or major program components and prerequisites may not be graded using the satisfactory-unsatisfactory system, and academic programs also may prohibit “S” and “U” grades in courses constituting a minor.
• Before graduation, students may petition for an “S” or “U” grade to be changed to a letter grade.
Proposed amendments to the Non-Matriculated Undergraduate Students Policy include an increase in the number of credits non-matriculated students can complete during the summer. Currently, non-matriculated students can enroll in six credits in a six-week summer session, 12 credits in a 12-week summer session, and 12 credits, total, in sessions during any one summer. Proposed changes would raise those numbers to eight credits for a six-week session and 14 credits for a 12-week session over any summer, enabling non-matriculated students in science classes, which often are five credits, to complete more courses.
A second revision addresses summer registration for students who have been dismissed from undergraduate study at UB or another institution, stipulating that these students may enroll as non-matriculated students upon consultation with a UB academic advisor.
William Baumer, chair of the Grading Committee, characterized the proposed amendments to the Course Repetition Policy as “minor changes” in wording to clarify certain provisions.
In other business at yesterday’s meeting, Jean Wactawski-Wende, vice provost for strategic initiatives, provided the FSEC with an update on UB’s progress in building strategic strengths, the eight areas of cross-disciplinary research and expertise the university is growing as part of the UB 2020 long-range strategic plan.
As of December 2009, UB had hired 108 faculty members into the strategic strengths, which are Artistic Expression and Performing Arts, Civic Engagement and Public Policy, Cultures and Texts, Extreme Events: Mitigation and Response, Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan, Information and Computing Technology, Integrated Nanostructured Systems, and Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics. Each focus area encourages researchers from diverse fields to join in tackling pressing problems and discussing ideas.
In 2009 alone, Wactawski-Wende said, UB faculty hired under those specialties won six National Science Foundation CAREER awards, which recognize junior investigators who are leaders in research and teaching.
She also said members of the UB community can expect the strategic strengths to become more visible in coming months, with staff updating Web pages for individual strengths to include news, events, career opportunities and other information. These face-lifts will improve the understanding of the strategic strengths among students, faculty, staff and external audiences.
Just a few years into the UB 2020 planning process, the benefits of establishing and fostering areas of scholarly strength are already apparent, Wactawski-Wende said, noting, “I think we are more collaborative, more cross-disciplinary and more connected.”
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